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Vol. XXVII No. 24, April 1-15, 2018

Quizzin’ with Ramanan

(Quizmaster V.V. Ramanan’s questions are from March 1 to 15. Questions 11 to 20 relate to Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)

1. What is the claim to fame of ‘Shakti Sthala’, located at Thirumani in Karnataka’s Tumakuru district, that was inaugurated on March 2?

2. Which film won the Best Picture Oscar recently?

3. For the first time, India has signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with which countries for civil nuclear cooperation?

4. Who recently achieved the distinction of being the youngest international captain in cricket history at the age of 19 years and 165 days?

5. Which small island nation has decided to issue ‘Sovereign’ that will become first cryptocurrency to be legal tender?

6. Name the noted Indian architect and urban planner who has become the first Indian to win the Pritzker Prize considered the ‘Nobel Prize of Architecture’.

7. Which Union Territory has become India’s first to run completely on solar power?

8. India’s tallest National Flag was unfurled recently at Kote Kere near the historic Belagavi fort. What is the height of the flag pole: 100m, 105m, 110m?

9. The International Football Association Board, which sets the rules for football, has approved the use of what new feature at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia?

10. Name the much-loved British scientist, known for his work with black holes and relativity and author of the bestseller A Brief History of Time, who passed away recently.

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11. Who played the villain to MGR’s hero in the flick Rajakumari?

12. Mahatma Gandhi was its president from 1918 to 1948 and the present one is Justice Shivaraj V. Patil. Which institution in Chennai?

13. During the Emergency, the spouse of which Dravidian icon conducted a ‘Ravan Lila’ to mock Indira Gandhi’s Ram Lila at Delhi?

14. Who debuted as a heroine in Manamagal made in 1951?

15. Which 175-year-old school came up at the location of Madras Stables Company?

16. Which Chennai-based choir has performed at the 2000 and 2012 Summer Olympics as well as sung for the Pope in 2009?

17. Where would one find the tomb of the legendary army commander Yusuf Khan popular in folklore in Maruthanayagam?

18. Which eminent citizen of Madras during his distinguished career had served as the VC of Travancore University, Banaras Hindu University and Annamalai University?

19. How many pillars made up the colonnade built in 1734 by Governor Morton Pitt at the Fort?

20. Which 1917 work by V.V.S. Iyer is considered the first modern Tamil short story?

Answers to Quiz

1. It is set to become the world’s largest solar park with a capacity of 2,000 MW, 2. The Shape of Water, 3. Russia and Bangladesh, 4. Rashid Khan of Afghanistan, 5. Republic of the Marshall Islands, 6. Balakrishna Doshi, 7. Diu, 8. 110m. The dimension of the flag is 9600 sq. feet, 9. VAR (video assistant referees), 10. Stephen Hawking.